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Most of the country seems to be talking about very cold weather… meanwhile it’s not that cold here but I’m fighting a cold. It hit suddenly last night, seemingly a product of staying up way too late the night before, except that it’s still here a bit today. So I’m sitting by the fire and writing, working on the last 1/3 of In a Field of Oranges. (I like feeling the different tones in my different works. It’s even more apparent when I’m promoting one book while writing on another.)

And here’s a fun little teaser from the book, when Drew and Annalisa rent bikes to explore the area:

They splashed through a few big puddles when they couldn’t navigate around them, and dirt and sand caked to her feet and legs, but she didn’t care. Because she was wet and dirty, and hot from the humidity, she pulled her shirt off. At some point, Drew pulled off his tank top and tied it around his head, making her laugh.

They came across a small farm house, way up on the hill to their right. Two men were sitting in chairs at the bottom of a long set of stairs. One raised a bottle as they passed and called, “Mis amigos!”

Annalisa waved before she looked back to Drew’s grinning face. They were zinging through sun spots, making it look like they were going much faster than they actually were. It seemed the road did turn back toward the highway and their destination. Drew pointed up ahead. Another creek crossed the road, but this one wasn’t dry like the other ones they’d rode across.

She slowed down. “How are we going to cross that?”

“It’s the tide making it higher. Look. That must be close to Playa Brasilito.”

Where he pointed, the dirt turned to sand and, beyond that, the beach and ocean. They watched the ocean water rush in for a full minute before Drew turned to her with a crazy light in his eyes.

“Come on, we can make it across,” he said.

“What?” She gave him a no-way-in-hell look. She didn’t want to die on vacation.

“I’ll go first to make sure it’s safe.” He flashed his I-can-do-anything smile, picked up his bike, and began wading across.

“Drew!”

“I got this. The current isn’t strong. It just looks fast.” He went step-by-step into deeper water. She held her breath as the water went up to his shorts and then over.

“You’re all wet now!” But he was making progress and stepped safely on the other side. Okay, she could do this, too. It wasn’t that deep. Just a warm creek. Preparing, she dropped her shorts and put them in the bike’s basket. They’d been getting their flip flops wet so she kept them on and began across, holding the bike up out of the water as much as she could. The bottom half still got wet. The ground felt steady, and the sand provided traction. Just before she hit the halfway point, the bike lifted up.

Drew stood right in front of her, taking the bike.

“Thanks.”

It only took a minute or two to walk across, and only so long because they were stepping carefully. “I can’t believe we did that!”

“Guess you’re dressed for the beach already.” His gaze traveled down her body and back up, and his expression changed…to desire. She didn’t think of a decent reply in time and turned away, embarrassed.

“Guess we need to lock up the bikes.” Drew picked an almond tree to park the bikes under, and secured them both with the cable and padlock, his bare back to her. He really had been working out. She had noticed before, but not noticed.